Watching Uchouten Kazoku was nourishing, like a good stew (which is a major piece of the plot!). The world is enchanting and very Totoro like (there's definitely a catbus parallel). The sacred and profane whirl around together in the city where humans, tengu, and tanuki exist side by side. The characters are likable and multifaceted- even those that 'shouldn't be', like Benten, who is both terrifying and childlike, existing between and outside all worlds. The mythical Friday Fellows, a secret group that feasts on tanuki at every year's end, pose a great danger, yet their meetings are oddly mundane- an old men's drinking club. Iwas so pleasantly surprised by this one- it's one of a kind.